LEGONARDO DAVINCI
Joe Robertazzi & Gui Suranyi
Have you ever tried using Cardinal Print to print a final review sheet and have it fail on you? Do you HATE paying for paper and ink every time you want a cute cat picture? Well, if so, LEGONARDO DAVINCI may be the product for you!
LEGONARDO DAVINCI is a printer that creates scaled down images using LEGO as ink. First, users can upload their images to our printing library via laptop (anything downloaded on your computer will convert and add to the library) via Python script. Then, once uploaded, the program and printer are all run on a MangoPi which provides the user with an interface to select which image they want to print, the scale at which they want it to print at, and the color map they want to use for said print. Once the print is in queue, a live real-time print is displayed on the screen as well, to inform the user of the printer's progress percentage along with how much ink has been used and how much is left. Once it finishes, you have your completed image!
Joe - Wrote software for processing input images, scaling them up and down, cropping them and changing their color maps all on the MangoPi (only Python/non-baremetal aspect being the image conversion from downloads on laptop to bitmaps.c file). Additionally, wrote the user interface for the printer including the title splash screen, menu consisting of loaded images on the printer, and interface while printing.
Gui - Built and designed all aspects of the printer itself including the vacuum mechanism, LEGO feeders/storage containers, and CNC machine which was repurposed for thie project. Additionally, wired all of the mechanisms together and wrote drivers for moving stepper motors on the MangoPi.
Inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4neo4fRw2M
All code was original work by us.
Our team was able to fully execute our project, and we're both very satisfied with how it turned out in the end. Not only were we able to meet the expectations that we set for ourselves in our proposal, I think we surpassed them by printing out a full image (Yoshi) and creating a full user-interface for the printer. Both of us put in an immense amount of effort into this project, and the feeling of everything working together in the end definitely makes it all worth it. We also had our own heroic moments, whether that be successfully being able to pick up a LEGO piece with a vacuum for the first time or getting loaded images to change to the right color.
All media is within the 'pics_n_vids' folder of this repo! (or a much easier way is the Google Drive link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1K85u9TBoneZYjCPITP94Ezn1deumaIid?usp=share_link)